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Justice Updates – Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Posted on April 30, 2019

Action Alert: Contact your senators!

War and more war. There are two bills in the Senate that need our attention. Call your Senators to support S. 1039, Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act of 2019 and to override the veto of the resolution to end the U.S. support for the Saudi Arabian-led coalition fighting in Yemen.

1039, Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act of 2019 was introduced by Senator Tom Udall and would limit the use of funds for kinetic military operations in or against Iran. Kinetic military action is a euphemism for military action involving active warfare, usually including lethal force. These are the co-sponsors of this bill.

Both the House and Senate voted to end aid and participation in the Saudi led war in Yemen that has killed thousands of men, women, and children and resulted in famine that has killed many more. Mr. Trump vetoed that action. This week the Senate will vote to override that veto. Please call your Senators and urge them to override the veto. The following Republican Senators voted with the Democratic senators to end U.S. aid: Mike Lee, of Utah; Susan Collins of Maine; Steve Daines of Montana; Jerry Moran of Kansas; Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; Rand Paul of Kentucky; and Todd Young of Indiana.

On June 1, 2017, the president pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Many of us are deeply concerned about the impact of this action and have worked privately and corporately to implement many of the actions described in the agreement. Congressional leaders in the House have introduced H.R. 9, Climate Action Now Act to ensure that American honors its Paris commitments and to lay the groundwork for further climate action. The bill requires the President to develop and update annually a plan for the U.S. to meet its national determined contribution specifically to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26% – 28% below 2005 levels by 2025 and confirm that other parties to the agreement with major economies are fulfilling their announced contributions. In addition, the bill prohibits federal funds from being used to withdraw from the agreement. There are 224 co-sponsors.

Detaining Unaccompanied Youth. There are at least 2,000 children being held at the Homestead Detention Center on the Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida. Please sign this petition from the American Friends Service Committee.

Easter is about transformation but many women caught in sex trafficking cannot break free. Read about Donna Bruce who is still haunted by her past when she was trafficked by her mother for drugs and money.

Who makes your clothes? We often associate human trafficking only with sex trafficking butt here is labor trafficking also. While the issue described by Human Rights Watch is not technically trafficking, it borders on the abuse seen in trafficking.

Do you know which plastics to recycle? Here are the facts from the New York Times Climate Fwd.

One Thing You Can Do: Know your Plastics By Eduardo Garcia

Ever notice those recycling symbols, the triangles with the numbers inside, on plastic packaging and containers? I always assumed they meant the plastic was recyclable. But that’s not necessarily the case. Those numbers are resin identification codes, and they tell what kind of plastic the item is made from. And not all plastic is created equal.

Identifying what types of plastics are recyclable can be challenging because plastics do not always carry a resin code and because not all recycling programs are equal, either. Generally speaking, though, some categories of plastic are more widely recyclable in the United States.

“We always encourage people to focus on Nos. 1, 2 and 5 because we have great markets for them in the U.S.,” said Brent Bell, vice president of recycling at Waste Management, a major garbage collection and recycling company. Water and soda bottles, milk jugs, laundry detergent bottles, yogurt cups and butter tubs are mostly made of these plastics. You could lend a helping hand by rinsing these kinds of containers and removing labels.

On the other hand, placing items made with resins 4, 6 and 7 in the recycling bin are usually not a good idea. These are used to make squeezable bottles, plastic bags, pouches, meat trays, some clamshells and disposable plates and cups. Sorting plants will quite likely throw them in a landfill, together with other items considered contaminants.

Finally, No. 3 — the category that covers the PVCs often used in packaging for cosmetics, some food wrap, blister packs and pipes — is particularly bad. Because of its chemical composition, it can contaminate large batches of plastics in the recycling system that would otherwise be acceptable. “You absolutely want to make sure that you never ever put PVC into your recycling bin,” said Steve Alexander, president of the Association of Plastics Recyclers, an industry group.

Regardless of what they’re made of, shopping bags and other soft plastics like cling film and Bubble Wrap shouldn’t be put in recycling bins because they tend to jam sorting machines.

If one exists, your local recycling program should have information online about the types of plastics it accepts. If you can’t get a clear answer there, though, the best policy is not to guess.

“If in doubt, keep it out,” Mr. Alexander said.

What do you get from engaging in kindness? In her Catherine of Siena Lecture at Ohio Dominican last Thursday, Sr. Megan McElroy showed and recommended this video. How are you being kind this week?